Two Lines (BaekSoo, Vampire AU) Chapter Eight-Epilogue
WARNING: This story will contain perhaps graphic or offensive depictions of violence, murder, abuse, religious themes, dubious and/or non consensual sex, and other possible triggers. It is meant for audiences 18 and older. Continue at your own discretion.
A/N: This is a writing practice work and is likely to contain many errors, please be forgiving and offer lots of feedback.
Chapter One-Three | Chapter Four-Seven | Chapter Eight | Chapter Nine | Chapter Ten | Chapter Epilogue
It was cold when I first awoke. I thought it was because I had no clothes. It took a while before I'd learn how difficult it would be to get warm now that I was what I was. I felt heavy in the chains that held each of my arms to a cross, like my body ached to fall flat. I didn't have to wonder where I was, because I'd been here many times before. It was where Taegon spent hours, figuring out every weakness of the undead that we would manage to capture.
I could hear voices outside, all masculine. I didn't strain to hear them, instead I focused on pulling myself free. I knew what he was now - I was sure I knew I was the same. Whatever was planned and even if I escaped it, I wasn't sure anything would be okay ever again. One way or another, though, I needed to fight.
The door opened just as I pulled one hand free of it's restraint. Two men came forward fast. One was Taegon, the other I had never seen before. I cried out as they grabbed onto me. I was surprised hearing myself, my voice feral and growling. Taegon's grip offered no warmth, but the second man's skin felt like a comfort on mine even when he was manhandling me. I tried to attack him. I knew he was weak, and I felt I was stronger. I was wrong. I couldn't get free of either of them, but they pulled the chain from my other arm off of me and brought me down to the floor.
I saw a nervous look on the human's face and honed in on it. I kept lunging for him, but soon Taegon alone had the strength to hold me down, clutching each of my arms and holding them over my head. The human held onto my legs until he was a safe distance away, but I didn't give up trying to kick him.
"You can see what he truly is," Taegon said with a forced shake in his voice, sounding nearly breathless as he urged both the man inside with us, and those who were gathering at the door. "You look at the face of a demon, sent by the devil himself. Here is where we prove the strength of God. He is ours to control, ours to pour our sin into. Hasang, show them."
The man inside came forward. He knelt before I could kick his legs from under him, pushing mine apart so he could comfortably kneel between. I noticed other men coming forward before I shut my eyes. This wasn't happening.
Hasang cut his arm open. I tasted his blood dripping over my lips and opened my mouth to catch it, but it stopped too soon. I licked and bit on my lips, and the hint of blood there was the only comfort I'd have. One after the other, over the course of hours, they raped me. Taegon said prayers, and under his breath whispered to some how I would never age, how I'd always look beautiful to tempt the sin out of them, and how God would approve because of how I, a demon, hated it all.
Two Lines: Chapter Eight
Kyungsoo's P.O.V.
Chanyeol held my arms down over my head once he got me on the ground. His fingers squeezed just above my elbows, a fair distance from the cross tattoos that would take his power from him. I told myself not to fight, to stay still and piss him off with sarcastic remarks, but I was scared. This couldn't happen.
Not again.
I stretched just one of my arms, tugging his grip along with it. I tried to go slow, but panic as he forced a kiss onto my mouth urged me to move faster. I bit his lip. He laughed and bled into my mouth, biting my lip back. He was so self-assured. I touched my wrist to the hand that held my arm with effort, and I wasn't sure it was enough, but the stress told me it was now or never.
I used my knee, appropriately slammed it between his legs. His scream was the sign that it was enough and I turned on him, flipping him to his back and straddling him, lying my wrist on his forehead and punching into his jaw over and over. I screamed at him, but I'm not even sure what I said. I heard the crack of bones, but I didn't stop. At the first sight of blood pouring out of his mouth, over his already cracked lip, I lost control.
My arm was sore when I stopped and his face was unrecognizable. I left my wrist on his forehead and kept staring at him. I needed to know where Baekhyun was, but he didn't look conscious enough to give me an answer.
I stood up, finding my legs stiff and my knuckles bleeding. I kept watching him for a while, backing away several steps before I felt comfortable enough to turn. I brushed hair out of my face, likely spreading blood into it. I assured myself it didn't matter, all that mattered was finding Baekhyun, then hopefully getting the hell out of this city.
The chains were easy to find. The stake took some digging.
I returned to the graveyard and Chanyeol was still there, unmoving. I used his shirt to wipe blood off of his face. It wasn't bad enough. He'd have to wake up soon. I clasped the shackles around his wrists and threw him over my shoulder, holding the stake to the back of his leg because the moment he tried anything, I was going to be ready to cause him a world of pain if not death.
I shoved him into the passenger seat of the car he brought. I wasn't about to get his blood all over my van.
Halfway on the ride to West End, he opened his eyes. I was checking the radio for news or any decent music to help take some of the edge off. As soon as I saw him stirring, I hit the power off and switched the stake to the hand on the wheel closer to him.
"You look like shit," I said, just waiting for a response.
He lifted his hands, twirled them in his cuffs, then reached to his bloodied face. I listened to a sickening crack as I could assume he was correcting his jaw. He made a horrible, whimpering groan. I wasn't sympathetic.
"Didn't give me much time to heal, did you?" His voice was off, and he asked while keeping his hands on his face, as if holding it all together. "Cross cuffs. Wow."
"I see you're in a good enough state to speak," I glanced at him,"which means you should be thanking me, since I've allowed you to keep your dick for now."
"I'm gonna go out on a limb and bet you're driving back to my place. Where my friends are. Can't wait to hear your plan."
"You won't."
"Well, you're gonna get yourself and your boyfriend killed."
"And you care, I'm sure. It's not like you were blackmailing me into fucking you with his safety on the line. Do yourself a favor and rest that jaw."
He shifted in his seat, and I thought the movement was simply an act of rebellion. I readied the stake in my hand.
He huffed and shut his eyes, scraping some of the dried blood from his face. "Never been a hostage before."
I kept the stake in my hand, but reached for the radio again, turning it on to an ad for a car dealership.
It was easy finding a space in the lot. I parked just in front of apartment 164. Chanyeol immediately reached for the door handle, but it was locked. I got out on my side and told him, "Wait."
I rounded the car and opened the door for him, keeping the stake in hand. "Out."
"The bossy thing's cute," he said with a short-lived smile. He still seemed to have pain using his mouth.
The moment it was within reach, I grabbed the collar of his shirt. "You walk ahead of me. Not too fast, not too slow, and I think you know the difference."
I kicked the car door shut and we headed towards his door.
"We don't have to be enemies," he said. "I think you'd fit in. All this that went down, it's not personal. I thought Baekhyun was a great fuck."
When we reached the door, I grabbed the back of his head and slammed his face into it twice before I snatched his collar into my grip again.
The door was opened by a different man than the one before. He looked unsurprised and said, "Hi Chanyeol."
"Jongin," Chanyeol said, nodding his head in a strange salute.
Jongin moved out of the way and beckoned us in. I followed Chanyeol, holding the stake to his back, but the room was small and empty.
I looked at Jongin, hoping he'd be a little more helpful than Chanyeol when I asked, "Where is Baekhyun?"
"I can't tell you that. Sorry." He shrugged, crossing his arms.
"What if you either tell me, or he dies?" I held the stake closer to Chanyeol's back.
Jongin sighed, "Well, it would serve him right for not listening to Joonmyun about staying away from you. But I guess I should do what you say, since his life is on the line."
Chanyeol clapped his hands, laughing lowly. "So cool, Jongin. Bonus points for the coolness."
The extent of my patience had been beyond challenged. I was tempted to kill them both for how hard they'd already made things, but it was concern for Baekhyun that forced me to calm. It wasn't what I wanted to do, but what he needed me to do.
Collecting myself, I lowered the wooden stake, but clutched Chanyeol's neck. I pointed the stake toward Jongin and demanded one more time, "Tell me where."
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They told me I was seeing things. That my father was human, "of course." The shock of the demon's face was messing with my head, or something like that.
My father was never around during daylight, and they encouraged me toward the same schedule. It was the schedule of the demons and it was in our blood to match them - to recognize them - to fight them. It was supposed to be my life's meaning, but it felt so wrong.
Why, if we were supposed to fight these things, was my father keeping one in chains?
"He's been here for 15 years. Never aged a day." Hasang, a man who played assistant to my dad, said this as we walked to the shed one night. There were four men waiting outside of it and I didn't like the look of one of them. "You'll see, Baekhyun," said Hasang. "We release our sins into the demon. To punish it and.. show our power. You'll see. You'll have sins for it too, one day."
Nothing he said made sense. It swirled around my head and the only thing that stuck was that whatever was inside had been in there for fifteen long years. That was almost as long as my life away from my father, near my whole lifetime.
The door opened and a man stepped out, adjusting articles of clothing and looking overly satisfied - nothing like the face of a man who had just come from confession.
Hasang nudged me closer to the door. My father was there, holding the demon. A man from outside stepped in and left the door open for me and Hasang to come in as well. They had me close the door.
Hasang used a knife to cut the man's arm. The man held it over the thing's mouth. They were feeding it blood.
I noticed with a start that it was looking at me, eyes glaring but wet. I couldn't break the eye contact for a long time before Hasang nudged me.
"Watch, Baekhyun," he said.
I did, and I saw nothing I liked. The man had pushed his pants down and he was stroking himself hard, rubbing himself along the demon's thighs. This wasn't a confession. I felt dizzy, like I might faint again. The sight was worse than the thing's long, monstrous teeth. I didn't want to be part of it.
But I was so scared.
Two Lines: Chapter Nine
Baekhyun's P.O.V.
I was laying across the backseat of a car. My hands were tied together to a cross, just as they had been on the bed. I don't know when I stopped fighting. I only know it had been a long time since I felt so hungry. I vaguely moved my hands around, trying to pull the cross away from them.
The voices in the front sounded distant and echoed. I thought the two must have been speaking over each other, because I couldn't understand the words. My vision lagged the same way my hearing did, slow motion and blurry unless I focused for a long time. If I tilted my head at just the right angle, I could look at the driver's neck, and it made me hungry.
I was bleeding. They stabbed me before they put me in the car. I could feel the wound in my side, aching and wet. Unsurprisingly, bloodloss has a way of making our kind hungry. Drinking blood can heal us faster, make us stronger. That's why the hunger was driving me crazier than anything else.
I didn't know the car had stopped, but the door over my head opened and the man from the passenger seat was pulling me out with his arms stuck under mine. I slumped in his grip and watched my feet drag on pavement as he took me wherever it was we were going. I was relieved just to be out of the car. I raised my head, looked up at the sky, thought of Kyungsoo, and breathed.
I couldn't selfishly give up. I had to survive.
The cross fell from my fingers and clattered on the ground. My strength was fast returning, healing the soreness through my body. We stopped and their voices still sounded distant, but much more clear.
"Ha, does that feel better?"
"Sehun, don't taunt him."
"Come on, Joonmyun. He's too cute to not have a little but of fun with."
I put my feet under me and tore my arms from Sehun's grip. My hands were still tied, but I elbowed back against his chest with all of the strength I could muster.
He side stepped the attack like it was nothing and grabbed my shoulders, leaning in to speak to me. "I'd be careful. You're weak with or without the cross and there's two of us to one of you."
"Give him to me," said the other - Joonmyun. He wrapped his arms around me tightly, so I could feel his strength, then he continued dragging me. He said, lowly, "We're going to get you fed."
I started to fight away, but Sehun stepped in front of me and almost lazily lifted one of my legs off the ground. They carried me through a door. With my vision clearing up, I tried to check my surroundings, to at least figure out where I was. I saw an unmarked street transition into a small, musty kitchen. I could hear live music, muffled, and I thought we must be in a bar.
With a long exhale, I finally got enough voice to ask them, "Where? Why?"
"Sehun, go."
My foot was dropped first, then Joonmyun lowered me into a sitting position and settled next to me, keeping an arm around my shoulders. I was aware of Sehun leaving the room and a door closing before he looked at me and spoke.
"We set up a trail for the hunters and it ends here. They're going to try to speak to the owner of this bar, and they're going to find you drinking his blood. When they do, they'll attack. But we have a plan to trap them before they hurt you. You'll only have to fight them off for a little bit."
His voice reminded me of Chanyeol's. It wasn't that it was deep, but it had the same soothing tones that made me want to trust him - if only I could.
"You're full of shit," I laughed. "Because if it was that simple, you'd lure and fight them yourselves, right?"
Joonmyun sighed and put his hand on my cheek. "They were right. It's a shame to get rid of you."
My sight grew sharper, staring at his face. I saw his muscles tighten - he knew before I did that I was ready for a fight. I blinked my eyes and tested the ropes on my wrists. When I found it less painful to move my hands in them, I knew there was a chance.
I shoved away from him and he readily moved away, getting up on his feet. I mirrored him, standing on my own. I wanted to get my hands free before I approached him, so I took a defensive stance as I worked with the ropes, but Joonmyun bypassed it. He was quick, and he gripped my shoulders before he kneed my abdomen.
I used my tied hands to strike his chin, refusing to be thrown off balance and overtaken. He backed off for a short, satisfying moment, and I kicked at him but missed. He took advantage and spun around me, hitting my back to knock me over, but catching me by the oversized shirt they dressed me in before I could hit the floor.
The door opened, and I heard a new voice. "Exactly what is this? What do you want?"
"Here's your opponent," Joonmyun said, lifting me back onto my feet. I saw a balding man in glasses, looking angrily towards Sehun. I wanted to resist. I needed to resist - but I was too hungry to resist.
Sehun backed out of the room and closed the door, while Joonmyun went for the door we came through. It shut, and I was alone in the old little kitchen with a human.
The human banged angrily on the door Sehun shut him out of, demanding he be let out.
I freed my hands, dropping ropes on the ground. The human wasn't paying any attention to me, he was just uselessly trying to beat through the door.
If I drank from him fast enough, I could still kick both of their asses.
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The door opened and sunlight came pouring in. I screamed at the burn on my skin. The door shut quickly, but the sting remained. The links of chains pressing into my skin now felt uncomfortably tight. My eyes felt like they'd bleed out of their sockets. I didn't attempt to see, even when all of a sudden my hard uncomfortable bindings loosened and I fell against an unusually small human body.
"I'm sorry," he said with panic in his voice. "I'm sorry. I wanted to get you out of here. I'm so sorry."
I knew he was Baekhyun. I wished for it, even prayed that guilt would bring him here to rescue me. I relaxed in his hold and listened closely to the pounding of his heart. He was warm. I wanted to steal it from him. "I brought you clothes," he was saying to me. "You can leave tonight. We can both leave."
We could. We would.
He didn't scream when I bit into his neck. I heard one tiny gasp and he felt deathly still. I thought he must have gone into shock. I brought him down to the floor and pulled away before I was satisfied. I took a shirt out of his arms. I assumed I was supposed to wear it, but I placed it against his neck like a horrible bandage, and I stared at his face, watching his wide eyed suffering.
"Thank you," I said.
He closed his eyes.
Two Lines: Chapter Ten
Kyungsoo's P.O.V.
"That car," Chanyeol nodded and lifted his bound hands to point through the windshield. "That's Joonmyun's. They would have been in it."
I parked in the middle of the road and only took the car's key and the wooden stake. Chanyeol wasn't much of a threat as long as he had those cuffs on, and I had Jongin climb into the trunk - he'd have a hard time getting out as long as I had the key. I didn't have time for more of a safety net than that. I didn't know if I had any time.
"Wait a minute!" I heard Chanyeol call as I ran ahead to the other car. Jongin had said their plan was set up in the back room of a bar. There were several doors within close sight, and two alleyways. I needed to stay calm and think. I couldn't waste time going back and forth, checking every direction.
I pulled off the jacket I wore, spread the cloth over my fist, then I punched through the window of Joonmyun's car. The alarm sounded.
A small-framed young man stepped almost instantly into view, moving around the corner of the closest alleyway. I recognized the white of his skin, and we locked eyes.
"You must be Joonmyun," I called.
He scowled and disappeared around the corner. I ran after him, leaving my jacket behind but carrying the stake.
When I rounded the corner, he was ready. He tackled me to the ground, and I swung at him as I fell.
He took a hit to the face, but it didn't effect him much. I was stupid. With adrenaline in my veins, I had forgot I didn't have the strength of the others.
He snatched the stake from me and held the pointy end against my chest. "Quiet," he said. "The hunters are already inside. If you draw attention to us now, we both die."
"Where's Baekhyun?" I honored him as far as not yelling.
His expression changed and he started to lift the weapon over my chest. "I'm going to guess you're not letting this go easily.."
"Please." I grabbed onto his shoulder, held my wrist against him. "Please," I couldn't risk dying now. "Is he dead?"
"Soon," Joonmyun told me, with the sincerity of a promise.
He thrusted the stake down to my chest and I felt it's tip rip my skin. I didn't process how close I was to being gone in the second that he was off of me, pulled by a chain around his neck, a short chain between two shackles.
I sat up and made eye contact with Chanyeol. He waved his fingers as he dragged Joonmyun another several steps away from me. "I have this thing for betrayal," he said like it was some explanation, then he kissed Joonmyun's cheek.
"Chanyeol," Joonmyun looked defeated more than he looked angry.
I got up slowly, shaken for a short time by confusion before focus returned to me. I went to the closest door. It smelled of gasoline and there was a container for it sitting on the ground. The door would only open when I pushed hard. I stumbled through the doorway into a small, musty kitchen.
"Baekhyun."
I saw an older man, dead and bleeding on the floor.
"Kyungsoo."
I turned. Baekhyun stood on the other side of the room, at another door. He looked surprised, but he didn't look scared.
I smiled and walked to him.
The door behind him opened. Two strangers, young men with crosses on their wrists, stood at the doorway, taking in our little scene.
"Go," Baekhyun said. I ran back to the other side of the room, to the door I entered through. Baekhyun was a breath behind, just on my heels. I thought I had left the door opened. I grabbed the handle and turned it. It was scorching. I withdrew my hand and the door blew shut before it ever opened. Fire. The gasoline, I realized - this was Joonmyun's trap for the hunters.
I turned again. The hunters had followed us deeper into the room, holding their weapons and clueless to what was happening. I saw the door across the room close. I tried to push by both Baekhyun and the hunters to get to it before a fire started there. I was held back, a pretty boy blonde hunter shoving me backwards as he brandished a wooden stake.
"Trap!" I tried to warn them. "Fire!"
Baekhyun shoved the hunter in my path away and I used the chance to try again to get to the other door. The other hunter, a tan pre-pubescent little shit, grabbed me and pushed me towards a wall. He looked surprised by his own strength.
A fire alarm went off, a loud ringing bell that finally claimed their attention. I saw flames rising around the exit door. The hunter on me broke away to try and open the other, but he hissed and pulled his hand back after touching the handle.
"We're trapped," he said.
The other hunter attacked Baekhyun. I was sure he knew what was happening. He must have just had 'a first thing's first' kind of attitude.
I ran to Baekhyun's aid. The hunter was a skilled fighter. He swerved away from our hits and knocked me in the head once, and Baekhyun in the stomach three times. His friend came to help him, and like idiots the four of us were fighting in a burning room. Finally, Baekhyun was able to grab hold of the blonde. It was enough to make the other freeze, and I grabbed him. We bent them over the kitchen's small island. Baekhyun leaned over his hunter, looking like he meant to bite him.
I held my arm out to stop him. "Not now. We have to get out of here."
I pushed away from the hunter I held, letting him free. I just assumed that the obvious fact I wasn't attacking him would be a clue.
Baekhyun slowly released the hunter he held as well, looking around. "There's no way out."
The hunters each stood straight. I looked at them - it looked like they were considering fighting more. Then the blonde said, "It's a kitchen. There has to be an extinguisher somewhere."
They looked, even Baekhyun. I stood there thinking of another way. I hardly believed a fire extinguisher would be in a room that was specifically set up for everyone inside to burn. I saw vents, and black smoke was rolling in through both of them.
"Cover your mouths," I said after a moment. "Breathing in the smoke isn't going to help anything. Stay low, too."
Baekhyun lifted his collar over his chin immediately, kneeling some as he moved. The hunters glared at me like I was trying to do them harm, but they pulled their shirts over their faces belatedly. I lifted my own, and tried as I could to stay calm, looking around the room for tools we could use.
We all stopped when there was a banging on one of the doors. I watched it burst open after a moment with a steel ladder falling through it, settling on top of shrunken flames. A man stood on top of it for just a moment, face covered with a bandana. He had a fire extinguisher in hand, and was spraying mist from it toward the floor. His wrists bared crosses - I knew from his tall, slender body that it was Kris.
"Hurry," said the blonde hunter. He led the other hunter onto the ladder and they ran out. I approached with Baekhyun, delayed. There wasn't much time for hesitance, but I really expected more of a fight once we got out. Baekhyun ended up grabbing my arm and urging me along, all four of us following the masked rescuer.
There weren't many flames left, to my surprise, but there was lots of smoke. We kept our heads down on the way out. We wouldn't die, but it'd be unpleasant to suffer the symptoms of smoke inhalation. I had to keep my eyes as wide as possible to see ahead of us, keeping an eye on the hunters. I watched one of them fall, and the other picked him up. I was relieved - they'd have a hard time attacking us in a state like that.
Baekhyun coughed. I moved closer to him as I saw the light from a door ahead, pulling him along.
He and three of the hunters collapsed when we were on the street. Along with the alarm from the building, I could hear the sirens of fire trucks approaching.
"Kris!" A voice shouted near us. I gazed over at a short boy running over. He tried to quiet himself when he asked, "Are those vampires?"
Kris pulled the bandana off of his face, looking over at me.
"Baekhyun, come on." I pulled him to his feet. "We have to get out of here."
Baekhyun coughed a few more times, but after he was walking fine. I looked over my shoulder at the hunters. Kris was looking back at me, coughing into his arm.
I got the distinct impression I didn't have to worry about him.
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Epilogue
Baekhyun sat behind Kyungsoo, placing a mug of tea down in front of him, and holding another mug for himself. "So, what are you looking at?"
"This one is three bedrooms with an office," Kyungsoo said, clicking the image of a floorplan open on the laptop. "It was just built last year. Near the beach."
"Mm, sand and sunshine. A vampire's dream." Baekhyun laughed.
Kyungsoo lightly hit his shoulder, mostly for the use of the word, then sipped from his tea. "The ocean is pretty at night," he said after a moment.
"You know, we could just get an apartment somewhere. Do we really need such a big house?" Baekhyun smiled, hopefully. "Maybe we could just rent places and travel."
Kyungsoo shrugged. "Not easy to be traveling vampires," he said the word meaningfully, with a slight glare at Baekhyun. "It could be fun, though."
"Really?" Baekhyun straightened, only to slump. "You're not just saying that because you feel guilty, right? About everything that happened.. I was the stupid one."
"Oh, I know." Kyungsoo smirked.
"Hey.." Baekhyun laughed.
Kyungsoo reached over, pulling some of Baekhyun's bangs out of his eyes. "I was wrong to hurt you. The anger I hold towards you isn't fair and I'm sorry. I'll work on it. But I'm not going to live my life in guilt over what's been done."
"Well, good." Baekhyun said. He took a long sip of his tea, looking away, and admitting after a long moment, "Because, well, I am kind of a masochist."
Kyungsoo laughed. "I know that too." He kissed Baekhyun's head. "We've been together this long because we're meant to be. That's just the life we have to suffer, for the sake of destiny, or something or other."
There was a knock on the door downstairs. Kyungsoo stiffened.
"Probably just Chanyeol again," Baekhyun said, getting up. "He really wants out of those cuffs."
"I told him, he's not getting the key from me." Kyungsoo focused on the laptop. He mumbled as Baekhyun left the room, "Not for free, anyway."
A moment later, Baekhyun called out loud, "Uh, Kyungsoo? It's not Chanyeol..."
Kyungsoo took note of the fear in Baekhyun's voice. He was fast to walk down the stairs, but slowed at sight of the doorway.
Kris stood outside, immediately softening when he met eyes with Kyungsoo, looking large eyed and curious again.
"Hi," Kyungsoo said.
"Hi," Kris returned, nodding his head. "Are you still not planning on killing me?"
"Depends." Kyungsoo stepped by Baekhyun's side, grabbing onto his hand. "Did you make up your mind on the subject?"
"I came to thank you," Kris said. "For not killing Luhan and Tao. They're fine."
"I'm not particularly glad to hear it," Kyungsoo said, honestly.
"I know." Kris said, nodding. "You wouldn't have a reason to be... still, thank you."
"You're welcome," Baekhyun said. "That's just how us undead guys roll. Fire safety over blood. You know."
Kris stared at him.
Baekhyun shrugged and started to close the door, but Kris blocked, lifting his hand up.
"Wait, there's something else."
Kyungsoo pulled Baekhyun back from the door, smiling at him. Then he stepped forward on his own, looking attentively at Kris. "What do you want?"
Kris shrugged, trying to take weight out of the situation. "I was hoping I could talk to you. There's a lot I don't know about your kind, and I never, well, had the opportunity to feel safe around.. one of you before."
"We'll tell you our story," Kyungsoo conceded, "if you tell us yours."
Kris nodded.
Kyungsoo turned away. "Baekhyun, we might need some extra tea."
Baekhyun walked off to the kitchen, laughing. "Sure. Make some tea for the hunter. We live such a normal life."
The three of them sat together a short while later in the upstairs den. Kyungsoo was in his overly comfortable chair, Kris looking very upright on the edge of the couch, and Baekhyun taking a stool in the middle of the room.
"So," Kris said, slowly. "How did you two become vampires?"
Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, while Baekhyun laughed and started.
"Well - It was a long time ago."
A/N: This is a writing practice work and is likely to contain many errors, please be forgiving and offer lots of feedback.
Chapter One-Three | Chapter Four-Seven | Chapter Eight | Chapter Nine | Chapter Ten | Chapter Epilogue
It was cold when I first awoke. I thought it was because I had no clothes. It took a while before I'd learn how difficult it would be to get warm now that I was what I was. I felt heavy in the chains that held each of my arms to a cross, like my body ached to fall flat. I didn't have to wonder where I was, because I'd been here many times before. It was where Taegon spent hours, figuring out every weakness of the undead that we would manage to capture.
I could hear voices outside, all masculine. I didn't strain to hear them, instead I focused on pulling myself free. I knew what he was now - I was sure I knew I was the same. Whatever was planned and even if I escaped it, I wasn't sure anything would be okay ever again. One way or another, though, I needed to fight.
The door opened just as I pulled one hand free of it's restraint. Two men came forward fast. One was Taegon, the other I had never seen before. I cried out as they grabbed onto me. I was surprised hearing myself, my voice feral and growling. Taegon's grip offered no warmth, but the second man's skin felt like a comfort on mine even when he was manhandling me. I tried to attack him. I knew he was weak, and I felt I was stronger. I was wrong. I couldn't get free of either of them, but they pulled the chain from my other arm off of me and brought me down to the floor.
I saw a nervous look on the human's face and honed in on it. I kept lunging for him, but soon Taegon alone had the strength to hold me down, clutching each of my arms and holding them over my head. The human held onto my legs until he was a safe distance away, but I didn't give up trying to kick him.
"You can see what he truly is," Taegon said with a forced shake in his voice, sounding nearly breathless as he urged both the man inside with us, and those who were gathering at the door. "You look at the face of a demon, sent by the devil himself. Here is where we prove the strength of God. He is ours to control, ours to pour our sin into. Hasang, show them."
The man inside came forward. He knelt before I could kick his legs from under him, pushing mine apart so he could comfortably kneel between. I noticed other men coming forward before I shut my eyes. This wasn't happening.
Hasang cut his arm open. I tasted his blood dripping over my lips and opened my mouth to catch it, but it stopped too soon. I licked and bit on my lips, and the hint of blood there was the only comfort I'd have. One after the other, over the course of hours, they raped me. Taegon said prayers, and under his breath whispered to some how I would never age, how I'd always look beautiful to tempt the sin out of them, and how God would approve because of how I, a demon, hated it all.
Two Lines: Chapter Eight
Kyungsoo's P.O.V.
Chanyeol held my arms down over my head once he got me on the ground. His fingers squeezed just above my elbows, a fair distance from the cross tattoos that would take his power from him. I told myself not to fight, to stay still and piss him off with sarcastic remarks, but I was scared. This couldn't happen.
Not again.
I stretched just one of my arms, tugging his grip along with it. I tried to go slow, but panic as he forced a kiss onto my mouth urged me to move faster. I bit his lip. He laughed and bled into my mouth, biting my lip back. He was so self-assured. I touched my wrist to the hand that held my arm with effort, and I wasn't sure it was enough, but the stress told me it was now or never.
I used my knee, appropriately slammed it between his legs. His scream was the sign that it was enough and I turned on him, flipping him to his back and straddling him, lying my wrist on his forehead and punching into his jaw over and over. I screamed at him, but I'm not even sure what I said. I heard the crack of bones, but I didn't stop. At the first sight of blood pouring out of his mouth, over his already cracked lip, I lost control.
My arm was sore when I stopped and his face was unrecognizable. I left my wrist on his forehead and kept staring at him. I needed to know where Baekhyun was, but he didn't look conscious enough to give me an answer.
I stood up, finding my legs stiff and my knuckles bleeding. I kept watching him for a while, backing away several steps before I felt comfortable enough to turn. I brushed hair out of my face, likely spreading blood into it. I assured myself it didn't matter, all that mattered was finding Baekhyun, then hopefully getting the hell out of this city.
The chains were easy to find. The stake took some digging.
I returned to the graveyard and Chanyeol was still there, unmoving. I used his shirt to wipe blood off of his face. It wasn't bad enough. He'd have to wake up soon. I clasped the shackles around his wrists and threw him over my shoulder, holding the stake to the back of his leg because the moment he tried anything, I was going to be ready to cause him a world of pain if not death.
I shoved him into the passenger seat of the car he brought. I wasn't about to get his blood all over my van.
Halfway on the ride to West End, he opened his eyes. I was checking the radio for news or any decent music to help take some of the edge off. As soon as I saw him stirring, I hit the power off and switched the stake to the hand on the wheel closer to him.
"You look like shit," I said, just waiting for a response.
He lifted his hands, twirled them in his cuffs, then reached to his bloodied face. I listened to a sickening crack as I could assume he was correcting his jaw. He made a horrible, whimpering groan. I wasn't sympathetic.
"Didn't give me much time to heal, did you?" His voice was off, and he asked while keeping his hands on his face, as if holding it all together. "Cross cuffs. Wow."
"I see you're in a good enough state to speak," I glanced at him,"which means you should be thanking me, since I've allowed you to keep your dick for now."
"I'm gonna go out on a limb and bet you're driving back to my place. Where my friends are. Can't wait to hear your plan."
"You won't."
"Well, you're gonna get yourself and your boyfriend killed."
"And you care, I'm sure. It's not like you were blackmailing me into fucking you with his safety on the line. Do yourself a favor and rest that jaw."
He shifted in his seat, and I thought the movement was simply an act of rebellion. I readied the stake in my hand.
He huffed and shut his eyes, scraping some of the dried blood from his face. "Never been a hostage before."
I kept the stake in my hand, but reached for the radio again, turning it on to an ad for a car dealership.
It was easy finding a space in the lot. I parked just in front of apartment 164. Chanyeol immediately reached for the door handle, but it was locked. I got out on my side and told him, "Wait."
I rounded the car and opened the door for him, keeping the stake in hand. "Out."
"The bossy thing's cute," he said with a short-lived smile. He still seemed to have pain using his mouth.
The moment it was within reach, I grabbed the collar of his shirt. "You walk ahead of me. Not too fast, not too slow, and I think you know the difference."
I kicked the car door shut and we headed towards his door.
"We don't have to be enemies," he said. "I think you'd fit in. All this that went down, it's not personal. I thought Baekhyun was a great fuck."
When we reached the door, I grabbed the back of his head and slammed his face into it twice before I snatched his collar into my grip again.
The door was opened by a different man than the one before. He looked unsurprised and said, "Hi Chanyeol."
"Jongin," Chanyeol said, nodding his head in a strange salute.
Jongin moved out of the way and beckoned us in. I followed Chanyeol, holding the stake to his back, but the room was small and empty.
I looked at Jongin, hoping he'd be a little more helpful than Chanyeol when I asked, "Where is Baekhyun?"
"I can't tell you that. Sorry." He shrugged, crossing his arms.
"What if you either tell me, or he dies?" I held the stake closer to Chanyeol's back.
Jongin sighed, "Well, it would serve him right for not listening to Joonmyun about staying away from you. But I guess I should do what you say, since his life is on the line."
Chanyeol clapped his hands, laughing lowly. "So cool, Jongin. Bonus points for the coolness."
The extent of my patience had been beyond challenged. I was tempted to kill them both for how hard they'd already made things, but it was concern for Baekhyun that forced me to calm. It wasn't what I wanted to do, but what he needed me to do.
Collecting myself, I lowered the wooden stake, but clutched Chanyeol's neck. I pointed the stake toward Jongin and demanded one more time, "Tell me where."
-------------------------------
They told me I was seeing things. That my father was human, "of course." The shock of the demon's face was messing with my head, or something like that.
My father was never around during daylight, and they encouraged me toward the same schedule. It was the schedule of the demons and it was in our blood to match them - to recognize them - to fight them. It was supposed to be my life's meaning, but it felt so wrong.
Why, if we were supposed to fight these things, was my father keeping one in chains?
"He's been here for 15 years. Never aged a day." Hasang, a man who played assistant to my dad, said this as we walked to the shed one night. There were four men waiting outside of it and I didn't like the look of one of them. "You'll see, Baekhyun," said Hasang. "We release our sins into the demon. To punish it and.. show our power. You'll see. You'll have sins for it too, one day."
Nothing he said made sense. It swirled around my head and the only thing that stuck was that whatever was inside had been in there for fifteen long years. That was almost as long as my life away from my father, near my whole lifetime.
The door opened and a man stepped out, adjusting articles of clothing and looking overly satisfied - nothing like the face of a man who had just come from confession.
Hasang nudged me closer to the door. My father was there, holding the demon. A man from outside stepped in and left the door open for me and Hasang to come in as well. They had me close the door.
Hasang used a knife to cut the man's arm. The man held it over the thing's mouth. They were feeding it blood.
I noticed with a start that it was looking at me, eyes glaring but wet. I couldn't break the eye contact for a long time before Hasang nudged me.
"Watch, Baekhyun," he said.
I did, and I saw nothing I liked. The man had pushed his pants down and he was stroking himself hard, rubbing himself along the demon's thighs. This wasn't a confession. I felt dizzy, like I might faint again. The sight was worse than the thing's long, monstrous teeth. I didn't want to be part of it.
But I was so scared.
Two Lines: Chapter Nine
Baekhyun's P.O.V.
I was laying across the backseat of a car. My hands were tied together to a cross, just as they had been on the bed. I don't know when I stopped fighting. I only know it had been a long time since I felt so hungry. I vaguely moved my hands around, trying to pull the cross away from them.
The voices in the front sounded distant and echoed. I thought the two must have been speaking over each other, because I couldn't understand the words. My vision lagged the same way my hearing did, slow motion and blurry unless I focused for a long time. If I tilted my head at just the right angle, I could look at the driver's neck, and it made me hungry.
I was bleeding. They stabbed me before they put me in the car. I could feel the wound in my side, aching and wet. Unsurprisingly, bloodloss has a way of making our kind hungry. Drinking blood can heal us faster, make us stronger. That's why the hunger was driving me crazier than anything else.
I didn't know the car had stopped, but the door over my head opened and the man from the passenger seat was pulling me out with his arms stuck under mine. I slumped in his grip and watched my feet drag on pavement as he took me wherever it was we were going. I was relieved just to be out of the car. I raised my head, looked up at the sky, thought of Kyungsoo, and breathed.
I couldn't selfishly give up. I had to survive.
The cross fell from my fingers and clattered on the ground. My strength was fast returning, healing the soreness through my body. We stopped and their voices still sounded distant, but much more clear.
"Ha, does that feel better?"
"Sehun, don't taunt him."
"Come on, Joonmyun. He's too cute to not have a little but of fun with."
I put my feet under me and tore my arms from Sehun's grip. My hands were still tied, but I elbowed back against his chest with all of the strength I could muster.
He side stepped the attack like it was nothing and grabbed my shoulders, leaning in to speak to me. "I'd be careful. You're weak with or without the cross and there's two of us to one of you."
"Give him to me," said the other - Joonmyun. He wrapped his arms around me tightly, so I could feel his strength, then he continued dragging me. He said, lowly, "We're going to get you fed."
I started to fight away, but Sehun stepped in front of me and almost lazily lifted one of my legs off the ground. They carried me through a door. With my vision clearing up, I tried to check my surroundings, to at least figure out where I was. I saw an unmarked street transition into a small, musty kitchen. I could hear live music, muffled, and I thought we must be in a bar.
With a long exhale, I finally got enough voice to ask them, "Where? Why?"
"Sehun, go."
My foot was dropped first, then Joonmyun lowered me into a sitting position and settled next to me, keeping an arm around my shoulders. I was aware of Sehun leaving the room and a door closing before he looked at me and spoke.
"We set up a trail for the hunters and it ends here. They're going to try to speak to the owner of this bar, and they're going to find you drinking his blood. When they do, they'll attack. But we have a plan to trap them before they hurt you. You'll only have to fight them off for a little bit."
His voice reminded me of Chanyeol's. It wasn't that it was deep, but it had the same soothing tones that made me want to trust him - if only I could.
"You're full of shit," I laughed. "Because if it was that simple, you'd lure and fight them yourselves, right?"
Joonmyun sighed and put his hand on my cheek. "They were right. It's a shame to get rid of you."
My sight grew sharper, staring at his face. I saw his muscles tighten - he knew before I did that I was ready for a fight. I blinked my eyes and tested the ropes on my wrists. When I found it less painful to move my hands in them, I knew there was a chance.
I shoved away from him and he readily moved away, getting up on his feet. I mirrored him, standing on my own. I wanted to get my hands free before I approached him, so I took a defensive stance as I worked with the ropes, but Joonmyun bypassed it. He was quick, and he gripped my shoulders before he kneed my abdomen.
I used my tied hands to strike his chin, refusing to be thrown off balance and overtaken. He backed off for a short, satisfying moment, and I kicked at him but missed. He took advantage and spun around me, hitting my back to knock me over, but catching me by the oversized shirt they dressed me in before I could hit the floor.
The door opened, and I heard a new voice. "Exactly what is this? What do you want?"
"Here's your opponent," Joonmyun said, lifting me back onto my feet. I saw a balding man in glasses, looking angrily towards Sehun. I wanted to resist. I needed to resist - but I was too hungry to resist.
Sehun backed out of the room and closed the door, while Joonmyun went for the door we came through. It shut, and I was alone in the old little kitchen with a human.
The human banged angrily on the door Sehun shut him out of, demanding he be let out.
I freed my hands, dropping ropes on the ground. The human wasn't paying any attention to me, he was just uselessly trying to beat through the door.
If I drank from him fast enough, I could still kick both of their asses.
---------------------------------------------
The door opened and sunlight came pouring in. I screamed at the burn on my skin. The door shut quickly, but the sting remained. The links of chains pressing into my skin now felt uncomfortably tight. My eyes felt like they'd bleed out of their sockets. I didn't attempt to see, even when all of a sudden my hard uncomfortable bindings loosened and I fell against an unusually small human body.
"I'm sorry," he said with panic in his voice. "I'm sorry. I wanted to get you out of here. I'm so sorry."
I knew he was Baekhyun. I wished for it, even prayed that guilt would bring him here to rescue me. I relaxed in his hold and listened closely to the pounding of his heart. He was warm. I wanted to steal it from him. "I brought you clothes," he was saying to me. "You can leave tonight. We can both leave."
We could. We would.
He didn't scream when I bit into his neck. I heard one tiny gasp and he felt deathly still. I thought he must have gone into shock. I brought him down to the floor and pulled away before I was satisfied. I took a shirt out of his arms. I assumed I was supposed to wear it, but I placed it against his neck like a horrible bandage, and I stared at his face, watching his wide eyed suffering.
"Thank you," I said.
He closed his eyes.
Two Lines: Chapter Ten
Kyungsoo's P.O.V.
"That car," Chanyeol nodded and lifted his bound hands to point through the windshield. "That's Joonmyun's. They would have been in it."
I parked in the middle of the road and only took the car's key and the wooden stake. Chanyeol wasn't much of a threat as long as he had those cuffs on, and I had Jongin climb into the trunk - he'd have a hard time getting out as long as I had the key. I didn't have time for more of a safety net than that. I didn't know if I had any time.
"Wait a minute!" I heard Chanyeol call as I ran ahead to the other car. Jongin had said their plan was set up in the back room of a bar. There were several doors within close sight, and two alleyways. I needed to stay calm and think. I couldn't waste time going back and forth, checking every direction.
I pulled off the jacket I wore, spread the cloth over my fist, then I punched through the window of Joonmyun's car. The alarm sounded.
A small-framed young man stepped almost instantly into view, moving around the corner of the closest alleyway. I recognized the white of his skin, and we locked eyes.
"You must be Joonmyun," I called.
He scowled and disappeared around the corner. I ran after him, leaving my jacket behind but carrying the stake.
When I rounded the corner, he was ready. He tackled me to the ground, and I swung at him as I fell.
He took a hit to the face, but it didn't effect him much. I was stupid. With adrenaline in my veins, I had forgot I didn't have the strength of the others.
He snatched the stake from me and held the pointy end against my chest. "Quiet," he said. "The hunters are already inside. If you draw attention to us now, we both die."
"Where's Baekhyun?" I honored him as far as not yelling.
His expression changed and he started to lift the weapon over my chest. "I'm going to guess you're not letting this go easily.."
"Please." I grabbed onto his shoulder, held my wrist against him. "Please," I couldn't risk dying now. "Is he dead?"
"Soon," Joonmyun told me, with the sincerity of a promise.
He thrusted the stake down to my chest and I felt it's tip rip my skin. I didn't process how close I was to being gone in the second that he was off of me, pulled by a chain around his neck, a short chain between two shackles.
I sat up and made eye contact with Chanyeol. He waved his fingers as he dragged Joonmyun another several steps away from me. "I have this thing for betrayal," he said like it was some explanation, then he kissed Joonmyun's cheek.
"Chanyeol," Joonmyun looked defeated more than he looked angry.
I got up slowly, shaken for a short time by confusion before focus returned to me. I went to the closest door. It smelled of gasoline and there was a container for it sitting on the ground. The door would only open when I pushed hard. I stumbled through the doorway into a small, musty kitchen.
"Baekhyun."
I saw an older man, dead and bleeding on the floor.
"Kyungsoo."
I turned. Baekhyun stood on the other side of the room, at another door. He looked surprised, but he didn't look scared.
I smiled and walked to him.
The door behind him opened. Two strangers, young men with crosses on their wrists, stood at the doorway, taking in our little scene.
"Go," Baekhyun said. I ran back to the other side of the room, to the door I entered through. Baekhyun was a breath behind, just on my heels. I thought I had left the door opened. I grabbed the handle and turned it. It was scorching. I withdrew my hand and the door blew shut before it ever opened. Fire. The gasoline, I realized - this was Joonmyun's trap for the hunters.
I turned again. The hunters had followed us deeper into the room, holding their weapons and clueless to what was happening. I saw the door across the room close. I tried to push by both Baekhyun and the hunters to get to it before a fire started there. I was held back, a pretty boy blonde hunter shoving me backwards as he brandished a wooden stake.
"Trap!" I tried to warn them. "Fire!"
Baekhyun shoved the hunter in my path away and I used the chance to try again to get to the other door. The other hunter, a tan pre-pubescent little shit, grabbed me and pushed me towards a wall. He looked surprised by his own strength.
A fire alarm went off, a loud ringing bell that finally claimed their attention. I saw flames rising around the exit door. The hunter on me broke away to try and open the other, but he hissed and pulled his hand back after touching the handle.
"We're trapped," he said.
The other hunter attacked Baekhyun. I was sure he knew what was happening. He must have just had 'a first thing's first' kind of attitude.
I ran to Baekhyun's aid. The hunter was a skilled fighter. He swerved away from our hits and knocked me in the head once, and Baekhyun in the stomach three times. His friend came to help him, and like idiots the four of us were fighting in a burning room. Finally, Baekhyun was able to grab hold of the blonde. It was enough to make the other freeze, and I grabbed him. We bent them over the kitchen's small island. Baekhyun leaned over his hunter, looking like he meant to bite him.
I held my arm out to stop him. "Not now. We have to get out of here."
I pushed away from the hunter I held, letting him free. I just assumed that the obvious fact I wasn't attacking him would be a clue.
Baekhyun slowly released the hunter he held as well, looking around. "There's no way out."
The hunters each stood straight. I looked at them - it looked like they were considering fighting more. Then the blonde said, "It's a kitchen. There has to be an extinguisher somewhere."
They looked, even Baekhyun. I stood there thinking of another way. I hardly believed a fire extinguisher would be in a room that was specifically set up for everyone inside to burn. I saw vents, and black smoke was rolling in through both of them.
"Cover your mouths," I said after a moment. "Breathing in the smoke isn't going to help anything. Stay low, too."
Baekhyun lifted his collar over his chin immediately, kneeling some as he moved. The hunters glared at me like I was trying to do them harm, but they pulled their shirts over their faces belatedly. I lifted my own, and tried as I could to stay calm, looking around the room for tools we could use.
We all stopped when there was a banging on one of the doors. I watched it burst open after a moment with a steel ladder falling through it, settling on top of shrunken flames. A man stood on top of it for just a moment, face covered with a bandana. He had a fire extinguisher in hand, and was spraying mist from it toward the floor. His wrists bared crosses - I knew from his tall, slender body that it was Kris.
"Hurry," said the blonde hunter. He led the other hunter onto the ladder and they ran out. I approached with Baekhyun, delayed. There wasn't much time for hesitance, but I really expected more of a fight once we got out. Baekhyun ended up grabbing my arm and urging me along, all four of us following the masked rescuer.
There weren't many flames left, to my surprise, but there was lots of smoke. We kept our heads down on the way out. We wouldn't die, but it'd be unpleasant to suffer the symptoms of smoke inhalation. I had to keep my eyes as wide as possible to see ahead of us, keeping an eye on the hunters. I watched one of them fall, and the other picked him up. I was relieved - they'd have a hard time attacking us in a state like that.
Baekhyun coughed. I moved closer to him as I saw the light from a door ahead, pulling him along.
He and three of the hunters collapsed when we were on the street. Along with the alarm from the building, I could hear the sirens of fire trucks approaching.
"Kris!" A voice shouted near us. I gazed over at a short boy running over. He tried to quiet himself when he asked, "Are those vampires?"
Kris pulled the bandana off of his face, looking over at me.
"Baekhyun, come on." I pulled him to his feet. "We have to get out of here."
Baekhyun coughed a few more times, but after he was walking fine. I looked over my shoulder at the hunters. Kris was looking back at me, coughing into his arm.
I got the distinct impression I didn't have to worry about him.
------------------------------
Epilogue
Baekhyun sat behind Kyungsoo, placing a mug of tea down in front of him, and holding another mug for himself. "So, what are you looking at?"
"This one is three bedrooms with an office," Kyungsoo said, clicking the image of a floorplan open on the laptop. "It was just built last year. Near the beach."
"Mm, sand and sunshine. A vampire's dream." Baekhyun laughed.
Kyungsoo lightly hit his shoulder, mostly for the use of the word, then sipped from his tea. "The ocean is pretty at night," he said after a moment.
"You know, we could just get an apartment somewhere. Do we really need such a big house?" Baekhyun smiled, hopefully. "Maybe we could just rent places and travel."
Kyungsoo shrugged. "Not easy to be traveling vampires," he said the word meaningfully, with a slight glare at Baekhyun. "It could be fun, though."
"Really?" Baekhyun straightened, only to slump. "You're not just saying that because you feel guilty, right? About everything that happened.. I was the stupid one."
"Oh, I know." Kyungsoo smirked.
"Hey.." Baekhyun laughed.
Kyungsoo reached over, pulling some of Baekhyun's bangs out of his eyes. "I was wrong to hurt you. The anger I hold towards you isn't fair and I'm sorry. I'll work on it. But I'm not going to live my life in guilt over what's been done."
"Well, good." Baekhyun said. He took a long sip of his tea, looking away, and admitting after a long moment, "Because, well, I am kind of a masochist."
Kyungsoo laughed. "I know that too." He kissed Baekhyun's head. "We've been together this long because we're meant to be. That's just the life we have to suffer, for the sake of destiny, or something or other."
There was a knock on the door downstairs. Kyungsoo stiffened.
"Probably just Chanyeol again," Baekhyun said, getting up. "He really wants out of those cuffs."
"I told him, he's not getting the key from me." Kyungsoo focused on the laptop. He mumbled as Baekhyun left the room, "Not for free, anyway."
A moment later, Baekhyun called out loud, "Uh, Kyungsoo? It's not Chanyeol..."
Kyungsoo took note of the fear in Baekhyun's voice. He was fast to walk down the stairs, but slowed at sight of the doorway.
Kris stood outside, immediately softening when he met eyes with Kyungsoo, looking large eyed and curious again.
"Hi," Kyungsoo said.
"Hi," Kris returned, nodding his head. "Are you still not planning on killing me?"
"Depends." Kyungsoo stepped by Baekhyun's side, grabbing onto his hand. "Did you make up your mind on the subject?"
"I came to thank you," Kris said. "For not killing Luhan and Tao. They're fine."
"I'm not particularly glad to hear it," Kyungsoo said, honestly.
"I know." Kris said, nodding. "You wouldn't have a reason to be... still, thank you."
"You're welcome," Baekhyun said. "That's just how us undead guys roll. Fire safety over blood. You know."
Kris stared at him.
Baekhyun shrugged and started to close the door, but Kris blocked, lifting his hand up.
"Wait, there's something else."
Kyungsoo pulled Baekhyun back from the door, smiling at him. Then he stepped forward on his own, looking attentively at Kris. "What do you want?"
Kris shrugged, trying to take weight out of the situation. "I was hoping I could talk to you. There's a lot I don't know about your kind, and I never, well, had the opportunity to feel safe around.. one of you before."
"We'll tell you our story," Kyungsoo conceded, "if you tell us yours."
Kris nodded.
Kyungsoo turned away. "Baekhyun, we might need some extra tea."
Baekhyun walked off to the kitchen, laughing. "Sure. Make some tea for the hunter. We live such a normal life."
The three of them sat together a short while later in the upstairs den. Kyungsoo was in his overly comfortable chair, Kris looking very upright on the edge of the couch, and Baekhyun taking a stool in the middle of the room.
"So," Kris said, slowly. "How did you two become vampires?"
Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, while Baekhyun laughed and started.
"Well - It was a long time ago."